6.4 Comparatives, Sentence Structure & Common Errors

The final grammar chapter covers four related editing skills: forming comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs correctly, keeping lists and comparisons grammatically parallel, recognizing run-on sentences and sentence fragments, and choosing the correct article (or no article at all) with count and non-count nouns.

Comparative and Superlative Forms

English forms the comparative (comparing two things) and the superlative (comparing three or more) in three ways depending on the word: adding -er/-est, adding more/most, or using an irregular form that must be memorized.

Two frequent STEP errors involve double comparatives or superlatives (more better, most fastest -- never combine -er/-est with more/most) and confusing the comparative (used with "than" for two items) with the superlative (used with "the" for three or more): She is taller than her sister (comparative, two people) versus She is the tallest student in her class (superlative, three or more people).

Parallel Structure

When a sentence presents a list or a comparison, every item must share the same grammatical form. Mixing forms -- for example, combining a gerund, an infinitive, and a plain noun in the same list -- creates an error even though each individual item is grammatically correct on its own.

• Not parallel: The training covers writing emails, how to manage time, and delegation.
• Parallel: The training covers writing emails, managing time, and delegating tasks.

The same principle applies to comparisons using "than" or "as...as": Preparing early is more effective than to cram the night before is not parallel (gerund vs. infinitive); Preparing early is more effective than cramming the night before fixes it by matching two gerunds.

Run-On Sentences and Fragments

A run-on sentence joins two or more independent clauses without the punctuation or conjunction needed to connect them correctly -- either with no punctuation at all, or with only a comma and no conjunction (a comma splice).

• Run-on: The exam was difficult many students left the room feeling discouraged.
• Comma splice: The exam was difficult, many students left the room feeling discouraged.
• Corrected: The exam was difficult, so many students left the room feeling discouraged. (or written as two separate sentences, or joined with a semicolon.)

A sentence fragment is the opposite problem: a group of words punctuated as a sentence but missing an independent clause, usually because it is only a subordinate clause or a phrase.

• Fragment: Although the results were released early. (a subordinate clause alone, with no main clause attached)
• Corrected: Although the results were released early, most candidates waited to check their scores until the official announcement.

On STEP, both error types are usually tested by asking the candidate to identify the one flawed sentence among four options, so it helps to check each option specifically for (1) two complete clauses with no connector, and (2) a subordinate clause standing alone with no main clause.

Articles: A, An, The, and the Zero Article

Article choice depends first on whether a noun is count (has a plural form: book/books) or non-count (no plural, treated as a mass: advice, information, water, furniture, homework), and second on whether the noun refers to something specific or something general.

A frequent STEP trap tests non-count nouns that resemble countable ideas in Arabic or other languages -- advice, information, furniture, homework, equipment, news are all non-count in English and never take a/an or a plural -s (never an advice or informations). When a general, unspecified quantity of a non-count noun is meant, no article is used at all; when the sentence narrows it down to one specific instance, the is required.

Bringing the Chapter Together

Comparatives, parallel structure, sentence boundaries, and articles all test a candidate's ability to check a sentence's underlying structure rather than just its surface meaning. Before selecting an answer, count the independent clauses, check that list items share one grammatical form, confirm whether a noun is count or non-count, and identify whether two items or three-plus items are being compared. These structural checks catch the errors STEP is specifically designed to test.